Whatup With "Indian Summer," Anyway?

September 28, 2005

By Bump Diamond
Man About Town

    A couple of days ago, while waxing about fall weather, I asked where the term "Indian Summer" came from, and aren't we all happy that we have Wikipedia in our lives?
    Here's the poop:

    It may be so named because this was the traditional period where North American First Nations/Native American peoples would harvest their fall crops.

    Or ... in The Americans, The Colonial Experience, Daniel J. Boorstin speculates that the term originated from raids on European colonies by Indian war parties; these raids usually ended in autumn, hence the extension to summer-like weather was an "Indian" summer. This is unlikely, as the first recorded instance of the term happened in 1778, by which time such raids would have become uncommon.

    Or ... it could be so named because the phenomenon was more common in what were then North American Indian territories, as opposed to the Eastern seaboard.

    Or ... It may be of Asian Indian, rather than North American Indian, origin. H. E. Ware, an English writer, noted that ships at that time traversing the Indian Ocean loaded up their cargo the most during the "Indian Summer", or fair weather season. Several ships actually had an "I.S." on their hull at the load level thought safe during the Indian Summer.

    And BTW: In the San Francisco Bay Area inland summer heat draws fog in off the ocean. As a result summers in San Francisco tend to be cold and foggy. Consequently Indian summer in San Francisco refers to the end of summer when it cools in the inland valleys and the weather gets less foggy and warmer.

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